The cost of a monarchy

It turns out the Swedish monarchy costs each Swede 13 SEK ($1.82) a year, which makes it one of the least expensive in Europe. 

  • The Swedish monarchy is one of the cheapest in Europe.

  • Sweden’s monarchy costs each Swede 13 SEK ($1.82) a year. What does that mean? It means it’s one of the cheaper monarchies in Europe. The royal colleagues in Norway are more than four times as expensive. Belgian economist Herman Matthijs, professor at Vrie University in Brussels, has calculated the comparative expenses of the European monarchies. Of Europe’s eight monarchies the ones in England and the Netherlands are the costliest. But if you calculate the cost by number of inhabitants, then Luxembourg and Norway are most expensive. When a Swede has to give 13 SEK to support the royal family, a Norwegian has to pay 58 SEK ($8.15), according to Matthijs’ calculations.
    Why is it that Norwegian royalty is so expensive? “Because nobody dares put a stop to them," says Trond Nordby, professor in Political Science at Oslo University and well-known critic of the expensive Norwegian royal family. "The monarchy in Norway is holy, and it is absolutely impossible to attack them.”
    The allowance bookmarked for the Swedish royal house is divided into two equal lots: palace administration, which covers the cost of the palace and the royal household, which funds the royal family’s business. According to a political agreement from 1970, the Swedish people have no insight into how the royal household money is being spent. However, in the future, the king might be forced to show this more openly. Last fall, a majority of the Parliamentary Constitutional Committee decided to develop rules for greater transparency in the royal household. If the royal government grants are easy to calculate, the royal fortunes are more difficult to overview. Most monarchs are relieved from having to pay taxes. The last time the Swedish royal family reported their fortune was in 2006, and the sum was then close to half a billion SEK ($70 million). The Norwegian king’s fortune is measured by Norwegian daily Dagens Næringliv to be around 900 million Norwegian crowns ($150.4 million), but according to the press service at the court it’s less than a hundred million NOK ($16.7 million). Elizabeth, Queen of England, is rumored to be good for 4 billion SEK ($562 million). Price list for the royal European families: 1. England ($67 million) 2. The Netherlands ($57 million) 3. Norway ($40 million) 4. Belgium ($19.6 million) 5. Denmark ($18 million) 6. Sweden ($17.5 million) 7. Spain ($12.7 million) 8. Luxembourg ($12.6 million).